The First Liberation Day in the DP Camps

Livik's opinion was clear: There was no reason to
celebrate or to put on a festive face, since "joy has been silenced
in the Jewish heart, our words are still full of sorrow"... Shmuel
Grinberg, in contrast, agreed that She'arit Hapleta would soon be marking
Liberation Day... but warned against losing the historical perspective
of what was happening. Even though anti-Semitism had not disappeared
and Jewish suffering had not ended, "we neither have nor want to
weaken the great historic truth, the great struggle against the monster
of human oppression, for our spiritual and moral liberation". Leo
Schwarz, who took part in the meeting, explained: "One of the main
questions was, should the liberation be commemorated today as a day
of mourning or a day of thanksgiving. There was little disagreement
about the memory of the murdered martyrs... concerning celebrations
of Liberation Day there were differences among groups within She'arit
Hapleta, but the victors were those whose psychology had already been
influenced by the positive dialectic of the future. Most members
of the Central Committee supported the declaration of "a memorial
day combined with the liberation, which must express our grief and bitterness
over the great tragedy of European Jewry, and simultaneously be a day
of thanksgiving, which will be celebrated as a national symbol and will
emphasize that the Jewish people still lives". It was decided to
observe the 14th of Adar as Liberation Day (15th May in 1946), as a
memorial and victory day.

From: Mankovitz, Ze'ev, Ideology and Politics Among
She'arit Hapleta in the American Zone of Occupation in Germany 1945-1946,
Ph.D. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1987, pp. 279-280 (Hebrew).